2020.12.07 Stonewall Jackson, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia USA

The Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA executed the removal of its prominently placed Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson monument on 2020.12.07. The Institute’s board voted in favor of its removal in October. 

The Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state-supported military university in the country. It had recently come under scrutiny in a Washington Post article that called attention to the campus’ culture of racism, expressed in the many racist incidents endured by Black cadets and alumni. The monument will be relocated to the Virginia Museum of the Civil War and New Market Battlefield State Historical Park. The funds for the relocation will cost  $209,000 and will be paid for by the VMI’s facility maintenance and operations account. This information was obtained through a press release issued by the VMI and from AP news. The statue was made by sculptor, Sir Moses Ezekiel, the first Jewish cadet to attend VMI; he fought in the Battle of New Market in 1864.